Australian mammals on brink of extinction calamity 10 February 2015Last updated at 07:58 ET By Helen Briggs Environment Correspondent The endangered northern quoll, a mammal species native to Australia Australia has lost one in ten of its native mammals species over the last 200 years in what conservationists describe as an "extinction calamity". No other nation has had such a high rate of loss of land mammals over this time period, according to scientists at Charles Darwin University, Australia. The decline is mainly due to predation by the feral cat and the red fox, which were introduced from Europe, they say. Large scale fires to manage land are also having an impact. As an affluent nation with a small population, Australia's wildlife should be relatively secure from threats such as habitat loss. But a new survey of Australia's native mammals, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests the scale of the problem is more serious than anticipated. Shy species
Elephant bird Description[edit] Size of Aepyornis maximus (centre, in purple) compared to a human, an ostrich (second from right, in maroon), and some non-avian theropoddinosaurs. Each gridline is one meter in height The elephant birds, which were giant ratites native to Madagascar, have been extinct since at least the 17th century. Étienne de Flacourt, a French governor of Madagascar in the 1640s and 1650s, mentions an ostrich-like bird said to inhabit unpopulated regions.[2] The explorer and traveler Marco Polo also mentions very large birds in accounts of his journeys to the East during the 12th and 13th centuries. Species[edit] Four species are usually accepted in the genus Aepyornis today; A. hildebrandti, A. gracilis, A. medius and A. maximus,[7] but the validity of some is disputed, with numerous authors treating them all in just one species, A. maximus. Genus Aepyornis Genus Mullerornis Etymology[edit] Mullerornis agilis Taxonomy and biogeography[edit] Aepyornis maximus restoration Biology[edit]
Extinct Galapagos Giant Tortoises Could Be Brought Back To Life When Lonesome George died in 2012, it was thought that so did the last Pinta Island giant tortoise. Discovered roaming the rocky island in the Galapagos archipelago on his own in 1972, it was believed that he was the last of his subspecies. Despite a global search to find him a mate, it proved fruitless over the 80 years of his life. Now, Yale researchers think that his DNA might live on (or at least that of his relatives), diluted in hybrid tortoises found on another island descended from tortoises thrown overboard 150 years ago. The tortoises, originally found living on seven of the Galapagos Islands, are divided into 15 subspecies, of which only 11 survive to this day. Divided into two different types depending on the shape of their shell, the tortoises are known as either domed or saddlebacked. Giant galapagos turtle munching on Floreana. But how did the original purebred tortoises get so far from the islands on which they originated?
List of recently extinct mammals A large number of prehistoric mammals are extinct, such as Megafauna. See List of prehistoric mammals. This is an incomplete list of historically known extinct mammals, their dates of extinction, and former range. Mammals included are organisms which have been described by science, but which have subsequently become extinct. Many of these animals have become extinct as a result of human hunting, for food or sport, or through the destruction of habitat. Marsupials[edit] Sirenians[edit] Steller's Sea Cow (1768), Commander Islands Rodents[edit] Ungulates[edit] Cebu Warty Pig (2000, Philippines) Lagomorphs[edit] Proboscids[edit] Tubulidentata[edit] Bibymalagasia (200 BCE, Madagascar) Soricimorphs[edit] Bats[edit] Cetaceans[edit] Chinese River Dolphin Baiji (2006, China) (officially listed as functionally extinct; it is possible that a few aging individuals still survive) Artiodactyls[edit] Aurochs Carnivores[edit] Javan Tiger, pictured 1938 Subspecies Primates[edit] Koala lemur (1500, Madagascar) See also[edit]
Tasmanian tiger DNA 'lives' again Seventy years after the ferocious Tasmanian tiger went extinct, its marsupial DNA has been resurrected inside mice. This is the first time that genetic material from an extinct animal has functioned inside a living host. The technique has huge potential, say the researchers. For instance, it might help to reveal how dinosaurs or Neanderthals looked. Andrew Pask at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues extracted DNA from four 100-year-old Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, samples. The DNA was badly fragmented, but the team managed to isolate one specific DNA sequence from each of the animals. Bigger questions The team then copied the DNA snippet, coupled it with a gene that produces a blue pigment, and injected it into very early mouse embryos. "We could see it very clearly in the developing cartilage," says Pask. Other researchers have resurrected extinct DNA inside cell lines in the lab. This work isn't a step towards cloning the entire thylacine, Pask stresses.
The Rate of Extinction: 3 Species per Hour About 6 waves of massive extinction are known in the history of the Earth. The last one wiped out the dinosaur world 65 million years ago and was probably due to a meteorite collision. But the recent one has no natural causes. Scientists and environmentalists issued reports about threats to creatures and plants including right whales, Iberian lynxes, wild potatoes and even wild peanuts. Experts gathered on May 22, at the International Day for Biological Diversity, a report on the threatened species from whales and Iberian lynxes to wild potatoes and wild peanuts. The threats to the wildlife diversity vary from habitat loss due to land clearance for farms or cities, poaching, pollution and rising human populations to global warming. determination at all levels - global, national and local," he said. It is obvious that the goal set by world leaders at an Earth Summit in 2002, namely a "significant reduction" by 2010 in the rate of species losses, will not be achieved.
11 Extinct Animals That Have Been Photographed Alive Animals Published on April 2nd, 2009 | by Bryan Nelson The current rate of extinction is 100 to 1000 times higher than the average, or background rate, making our current period the 6th major mass extinction in the planet’s history. Although fossil reconstructions or pictorial representations can sometimes be difficult to connect with, it’s impossible to ignore the experience of seeing a photograph of an animal on the brink of extinction. Thus, what follows is a list of 11 extinct animals that were photographed while still alive. Tasmanian Tiger The last Tasmanian Tiger, or Thylacine, known to have existed died in the Hobart Zoo, in Tasmania, Australia, on September 7th, 1936. Although commonly referred to as ‘tigers’, and despite having the look of a canid, the Thylacine isn’t remotely related to cats or dogs. >> Also see our latest post: 10 Animals on the Brink of Extinction Quagga Passenger Pigeon Colonial hunters happened. Golden Toad About the Author
Giant Chinese paddlefish declared extinct in China Beijing — Scientists say a giant fish species that managed to survive at least 150 million years has been completely wiped out by human activity. Research published in the Science of The Total Environment this week says the giant Chinese paddlefish, also known as the Chinese swordfish, is officially extinct. The monster fish, one of the largest freshwater species in the world with lengths up to 23 feet, was once common in China's Yangtze River. Due to its speed it was commonly referred to in China as the "water tiger." Study leader Qiwei Wei of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences called it "a reprehensible and an irreparable loss." Zeb Hogan, a fish expert at the University of Nevada, Reno, told National Geographic that it was "very sad" to see the "definitive loss of a very unique and extraordinary animal, with no hope of recovery." According to the researchers, no giant paddlefish have been sighted in the Yangtze since 2003, and there are none in captivity.
Great auk Extinct flightless seabird from the North Atlantic The great auk (Pinguinus impennis) is a species of flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus. It bred on rocky, isolated islands with easy access to the ocean and a plentiful food supply, a rarity in nature that provided only a few breeding sites for the great auks. The great auk was 75 to 85 cm (30 to 33 in) tall and weighed about 5 kg (11 lb), making it the largest alcid to survive into the modern era, and the second-largest member of the alcid family overall (the prehistoric Miomancalla was larger).[5] It had a black back and a white belly. The great auk was an important part of many Native American cultures, both as a food source and as a symbolic item. Its growing rarity increased interest from European museums and private collectors in obtaining skins and eggs of the bird. Taxonomy and evolution[edit] Etymology[edit] Description[edit] Diet[edit] Extinction[edit]